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Someone told me yesterday that the Allen High School Band has 520 members? Could that be right? He said he was at a high school game last weekend at the new Cowboys stadium (Allen vs Southlake) and there were 40K people there.

Allen HS is doing the same thing Plano High used to do, and La Joya High used to do...they won't divide up into other schools. 4800 enrollment. It was pretty loud across the way when they played whomever it was at Clark Stadium.

One resource claims over 600, but I think that's drill team too:
The Allen Escadrille is believed by some to be the world’s largest high school marching band, with a membership of over 600 students.[3] They play for the 5A football team on Fridays, strive for perfection in various competitions and are in demand nation-wide for parades and performances. The Escadrille attended the parade of the 2006 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It received the Sudler Shield Award from the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 2004. It was also a special participant in the 1994 St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland, and also were chosen to be the only high school band to play at the Lord Mayors Ball, also in Dublin, 1995 and 1999 Texas Gubernatorial Parades, and 1997 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The band continues improving under the direction of Mr. Charles Pennington.

Allen does have a band that big...they marched in the Rose Bowl parade back in 2005 and were as big as any of the college bands, including Texas.

I think the whole setup of one HS for an 80,000 population town is pretty stupid, but considering the idiots up here just approved a $60 million dollar high school football stadium I guess it fits the culture.

Plus they can keep atll the talented fb players together at one school. I'm sure that doesn't have a thing to do with how well they play year after year.

Diamond Girl wrote:Plus they can keep atll the talented fb players together at one school. I'm sure that doesn't have a thing to do with how well they play year after year.

And all the other kids get shut out and have zero opportunity in athletics. We'll be out of AISD by the time my kids are high school age.

Allen has a quarter the land mass of most DFW cities. Population wise Allen is basically maxed out. I grew up in Allen and agree most kids in Allen will never touch the field. We moved to Fairview which is right next to Allen. It's school district is Lovejoy ISD and will never get above 4A. It's rated one of the top districts in the state.

SMU91 wrote:Allen has a quarter the land mass of most DFW cities. Population wise Allen is basically maxed out. I grew up in Allen and agree most kids in Allen will never touch the field. We moved to Fairview which is right next to Allen. It's school district is Lovejoy ISD and will never get above 4A. It's rated one of the top districts in the state.

And LJ has back to back state Volleyball championships and are currently 3-deep in HS football playoffs. Great athletic facilities and program going on there, and yes, will max out at 4A, not the gigantic 5A that Allen is, plus, Lovejoy is better place to raise kiddos.

Yeah I want to move to Lucas or Fairview for that exact reason. Right on the edge now.

Lovejoy will be up there with Carroll and HP ISDs pretty soon, both in academics and athletics.

Two year high schools are bad news. There are no redeeming factors.

larskjenstad wrote:

SMU91 wrote:Allen has a quarter the land mass of most DFW cities. Population wise Allen is basically maxed out. I grew up in Allen and agree most kids in Allen will never touch the field. We moved to Fairview which is right next to Allen. It's school district is Lovejoy ISD and will never get above 4A. It's rated one of the top districts in the state.

And LJ has back to back state Volleyball championships and are currently 3-deep in HS football playoffs. Great athletic facilities and program going on there, and yes, will max out at 4A, not the gigantic 5A that Allen is, plus, Lovejoy is better place to raise kiddos.

Last year they built a new indoor football practice field. Not bad for a 3A.

[quote="larskjenstad ]

And LJ has back to back state Volleyball championships and are currently 3-deep in HS football playoffs. Great athletic facilities and program going on there, and yes, will max out at 4A, not the gigantic 5A that Allen is, plus, Lovejoy is better place to raise kiddos.[/quote]

Totally agree. Also their Vball team is great. My granddaughter plays on it and was MVP of state championship game. She is 15 and already has 5 college offers including a full boat offer from SMU.

GO PONIES!!!